This is the autobiography of George Koltanowski, the greatest showman and promoter that chess has ever known. Koltanowski will be best remembered as an exhibitor, writer, promoter and showman. Possessed with an incredibly powerful memory, Koltanowski would often give exhibitions, playing several games blindfold simultaneously.

Aggressive Attacks - EMPIRE CHESS The Most Aggressive Attacks in History

Catalog Code: DVD0074EP

In this DVD, GM Damian Lemos teaches us some of the most aggressive attacks in history across several games explained in-depth, where one of the sides mounts a strong attack against the enemy king. The games include fantastic sacrifices, tactical killing blows, and mate attacks against the enemy king.

In this DVD Eugene stresses “It is the pawns that define our middle game, attacking potential and control of empty squares”. Gain his insight and strategically winning tips. Instructive tips about keeping the tension in a position, both in theory and in practice.

This is a reprint of the original third book, with all of the games converted into Algebraic Figurine PGN Notation with diagrams in the back. Alekhine died in 1946, so this third volume was edited by International Master and British Chess Champion Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, based in part on the notes left by Alekhine to some of the games.

This is the book that every chess master and grandmaster has read and studied, and every aspiring chess master should be reading. The author, a World Chess Champion, clearly explains the most complex and difficult concepts. Grandmaster Reuben Fine wrote that Alekhine's collection of best games was one of the three most beautiful that he knew.

Alexander Alekhine - My Best Games of Chess - 1908-1937 Two Volumes Bound as One

Catalog Code: B0045DV

This unequaled collection reproduces Alekhine's 220 best games, his own personal acounts of the dazzling victories that made him a legend. Spanning almost thirty years of tournament play, it includes historic matches against Capablanca, Euwe and Bogoljubov, and chronicles his briliant ascent to world mastery, his surprising defeat in 1935, and his dramatic return two years later - the first deposed champion to regain his crown.

The book offers a sketch of the life and work of a talented writer and Soviet grandmaster Alexander Kotov. Chess games with commentary selected and grouped by topics (debut, a combination tactical strikes, defense, etc.) so that the book was not only an outstanding monograph on the players, but also a kind of textbook on the management of chess.

These pages reveal the secrets of his notebooks for the first time. IM Hawkins presents special material aimed to help you become a much better practical player, one armed with a deeper understanding of key aspects of chess.

In American Grandmaster, Benjamin takes the reader on a journey through chess adventures spanning more than thirty years. Tracing through his own career, from being a prodigy in the 'Fischer boom' era thorough to an experienced Grandmaster with many titles, Benjamin is in a unique position to highlight the major changes that have occurred both in US and international chess throughout the last four decades.

An Invitation to Chess is perhaps the most successful chess book ever written, with sales of over 100,000. It is a basic beginners book, starting with the moves of the pieces and rapidly advancing to more complex problems and examples.

>Francois-Andre Danican Philidor (1726-1795) is widely regarded as the strongest chess player ever in history prior to the modern era. He was so much better than any of his contemporaries that it is impossible for us to know how good he really was. The edition of the book that is reprinted here was published in 1871 by C. Sanson. This shows that the original Philidor book was still the standard work on the subject one hundred years after it was first written.

In this book, Grandmaster Zenón Franco examines in detail Anand’s chess career to date. He selects and studies his favourite Anand games, and demonstrates clearly how we can all improve our chess by learning from Anand’s play.

Every chess player who is serious about improving his game, should study the lessons of Aron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935). 'My System' (published in 1925) and 'Chess Praxis' (1928) had tremendous impact and made Nimzowitsch one of the most influential chess thinkers of the 20th century. His books continue to be printed, sold and read to this day. Reinhardt’s collection starts where Nimzowitsch’s second volume Chess Praxis ends. It offers a unique view of the chess world of the late 1920s and 1930s, its top tournaments and the state of theory.

Aron Nimzowitsch - Master of Planning Improve Your Chess by Studying the Games of the Master of Positional Play

Catalog Code: B0052IS

For more than a quarter of a century until his death in 1935, Aron Nimzowitsch was recognised as one of the world's leading players. The leading Grandmaster of the Hypermodern school, his games were full of new ideas and plans, which were accompanied by landmarks in chess literature such as My System and Chess Praxis. Challenging old theories, his books are regarded as being the best teaching manuals and have strongly withstood the test of time.

Book Description
One of the greatest chess legends of all time, Aron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935), is best known for founding the Hypermodernism school of chess, which emerged after World War I to challenge the chess ideologies of traditional central European masters. This first full-scale biography of Nimzowitsch chronicles his early life in Denmark, his family and education, and his fascination with the game that would become the focus of his life. Also included are explorations of his tournament games and records, his dispute with influential chess teacher Siegbert Tarrasch, and his role in the development of Hypermodern Chess. With detailed accounts of nearly 450 games and the only narrative of Nimzowitsch from 1914 to 1924, a period formerly cloaked in mystery, this volume offers the most thorough profile available of one of chess's greatest innovators.

This is a study of the six greatest chess players in the world during the period 1870 to 1950 including all the games they played against each other, with biographies, annotations and statistics by chess master and mathematics professor Dr. Nathan J. Divinsky.

How should systematic chess coaching be structured so that students are able to use their freshly acquired knowledge in their own games? Author Stefan Becker came to an astonishingly simple answer. The solution to every chess problem lies on the board.

In this DVD you will learn the secrets of how the Super GMs attack. Attacking is an important part of chess and an enjoyable part of the game for most players, but you have to know how to attack well and also when to correctly evaluate a position. Across five extensively-analyzed games, GM Lemos details each move, with the plans and ideas of each player.

Presented by International Master Valeri Lilov for ChessLecture.com
Attacking Chess is a highly rated series on analyzing plans to initiate attack against strategic positions. Valeri explains both theory and demonstrates in practice.
Disk 3 covers Intuitive Sacrifice, Finding the Strike, Particular Circumstance, Dynamics of the Attack, Attack in the Opening.

The Slovenian GM Vasja Pirc was a five time Yugoslavian champion. This speaks volumes for his playing strength but there is a more important contribution which he has made to the chess world. The defense which he explored in detail after the moves 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 is named after him. There were ups and downs in the appearance of the Pirc in tournament practice.

This is Comprehensive Chess Endings is a five volume master work by one of the world's leading authorities on the Chess Endgames, Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh. This is the original published in Russian. This English version is a direct translation from the Russian except that the order of the volumes has been changed. In the Russian original this is volume 2. However, in the English Translation it is volume 1.

This book is the third in a series of five books on Chess endings. This fundamental work explores different kinds of endings involving queens. Depending on the number and location involved in the fight pawns, material of the book includes both the elementary teaching positions and sophisticated graduation studies.

In this fundamental work, which includes more than 800 items, investigates various types of rook endings. Depending on the number and location involved in the fight pawns material of the book includes both the elementary teaching positions and sophisticated graduation studies.

Full notes to all the games PLUS some excellent photos and extensive commentary on the prelude and aftermath to this great event, the strongest tournament ever held up to that time. The AVRO tournament was held in the Netherlands in 1938, sponsored by the Dutch broadcasting company AVRO. The event was a double round-robin tournament.

Life Master Dana Mackenzie introduces us to the amazing games of some regional legends, including FIDE Master John Curdo, best known for winning the Massachusetts State Championship 17 times; FIDE Master Curt Justin Brasket, sixteen-time State Champion for his home state of Minnesota; FIDE Master Orest Popovych, 4 time New Jersey State Champion; International Master William Martz, the highest rated player from Wisconsin for almost 20 years and holds the USCF record of 104 for the most consecutive rated games without a loss; and Life Master Brian Wall, 5 time winner or tied for the Colorado State Championships.

The game of chess has challenged and delighted the world for centuries. In Back to Basics: Fundamentals, the essential building blocks of the royal game are presented simply and in an easy-to-understand format. With the expert guidance of chess master Branislav Francuski, you will learn how the chess pieces move and capture; the underlying principles of the game; how to spot and carry out simple checkmates; and understand the basic tactical ideas that are so important to playing and winning.

Bent Larsen (1935-2010) was one of the greatest fighters chess has ever seen. In his rich career the great Dane defeated all World Champions from Botvinnik to Karpov. He was a Candidate for the World Championship four times and became one of the most successful tournament players of his time. His uncompromising style and his unorthodox thinking made him popular with chess players all around the globe.

Have you ever wished for a “formula” to help you decide what move to make in any given chess position? In this ambitious and groundbreaking work, physicist and chess master Alexander Shashin presents the fruit of three decades of research into the elements of the game. He breaks down the position into mathematical ratios that compare the fundamental factors of material, mobility, safety, and space for each side, leading you to the proper plan and the mental attitude to adopt in light of what’s happening on the board.

Billy Colias - Midwest Master Revised in 2013 by Eric Schiller With Additional Games and New Chess Analysis

Catalog Code: B0214IS

Billy Colias was one of the most remarkable players to come out of the Midwest. He overcame many obstacles to become one of the area's top players, and earned the title of FIDE Master before his untimely death in 1993. This book details his life and games, including thrilling victories against both amateur and professional opposition in the Midwest, throughout the United States, and in Europe

Blindfold Chess History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important Games

Catalog Code: B0005MF

During the 18th century, when Philidor played two blindfold games of chess simultaneously, eyewitnesses were asked to swear affidavits attesting to this remarkable feat. Since then, blindfold chess - the art of playing without sight of the board or pieces - has produced some of the greatest feats of human memory, progressing to the extent that the world record is 45 simultaneous blindfold games.

I primarily ordered this because I was curious. I thought that it was going to be more or a "chess story/history" book, which in part it is. The dimensions of the book are 8 1/2" by 11" and the font is a little on the large side. Also the book is only 89 pages long. This is most likely because the book seems to be aimed and junior level players say beginners from approximately 10-14 years old.
The drawings are pleasantly done as far as I can tell all the chess positions that are part of the story or introductory part of the book have a "drawn" element to them. There are 68 test positions by my counting, and these are done with a more traditional chess font for the pieces, which is a good thing. Their are four test positions for almost every chapter or section, They are in given with increasing difficulty and they are labeled Rookie, Club Player, Club Champ and Expert. There are also about another 18 positions that are part of the stories and introductory sections of the chapters.
I would primarily suggest this book for parents, coaches and junior level players. For other players if you want to see and interesting and well done chess book and learn a little about chess history in a fun way then this book may also be for you as well.

This book explains piece values, strengths, weaknesses and simple traps like exposed check. It took my game from basic beginner to talented player in just a few months.
Highly recommend for all but master class or highly trained players.

I have read and owned other books by Alburt, including several in the Comprehensive Chess Course Series. I was interested in this title to see just how they would be condensing the other volumes. There is of course a lot of standard fair here. I am not impressed with the two chapters on the openings. They is some good advice but they are missing simple opening principles of king safety, active development of ones pieces, etc. As for typos I noticed one on one of the first diagrams I looked at. On page 68 the first example demonstrating the battery has 1. ...Rh1+ 2. Kxh1 Qxh2#. Well there is nothing on h2 so there is nothing for the Queen to take, i.e. (x). While this is only slightly annoying for me a new or beginning player might start getting confused. The other thing that I find annoying is the use of two different size board diagrams. Most of the diagrams are 1 5/8" square, but occasionally they switch to 1 1/8" squares for no apparent reason. Sometimes it seems like it is a device to save space but other times it wouldn't matter. As far as a space saving device it fails in it annoyance and distraction. Overall I give it a fair to good 3 stars for the breadth of information and the decent synthesis of it all. If you are a rated player of over say about 1600 there will be little new here for you unless you want a review of basics presented in perhaps new ways.

Why Sam Sloan and Ishi Press are redoing this book and in descriptive notation when the original abridged version is still available from Dover books for nearly half the price is a mystery and a shame. All the books that Ishi Press is "re-issuing" they are not updating the notation to any form of algebraic.

This book is not only interesting to read, but it also gave me new strategies in the game of chess. In the back of the book, it has a whole bunch of problems to do that comply with the lessons in the book. So not only does it show you the lessons, but it reinforces them with questions about them. There are very funny and interesting stories in this book, I loved the one about the man who caught his pants on fire and spooned soup into his lap while focusing on a chess position. Overall, this is an excellent book for the young, old and all fans of chess!

By Joel Johnson
Aug 23, 2012
What people are saying about this book:
===================================== Life Master Brian Wall (USCF: 2213) - 2 time Colorado State Champion =====================================
I think I've died and gone to heaven. Joel has a Fishing Pole chapter where I beat GM/s/IMs. also featuring games from many friends like Ted Doykos, Kevin Seidler, GB Salvio ( A Brazilian who plays Fishing Pole blitz and postal games ), Jack Young, Craig Thomson ( Goyathlay ) and many others. It also warms my heart when I see games from Ireland or my games in non-Fishing Pole chapters. Of course plenty of GM games plus plenty of original attacking theories straight from Joel Johnson's laboratory. As usual the games are arranged by themes with plenty of explanations and examples. This time it's even better because we get fan mail from the first book, Formation Attacks, from around the globe. This book is the easiest to sell I've ever handled. It's terrific to see Joel succeed with another instant classic.
Brian Wall
===================================== Randall Hoch (USCF: 1891) Texas =====================================
I am finding it as enjoyable as your first one. The games you have chosen are not only instructive, but also very entertaining. Your books have given me appreciation and motivation to play attacking chess from move 1. ... So I have to credit you with showing me the way! Best regards, Randy
===================================== Michael Stewart (USCF: 2267) Mississippi ===================================== I got your new book,outstanding work!!! Better than the first if that's possible. Both books are attacking classics,and should be on every chess players shelf.